Tributes to Shri Venkit

I have read all the tributes paid to Shri Venkit or Venkitji (he is Venkatachalam for me).  Yet, I have known him to be a calm and composed person with a good control over his work situation and with a capacity, not usually found amongst the tribe of PSs, to keep matters confidential and not to be provoked into offering any comments on confidential matters handled in his desk. I have often found that we praise certain qualities of the head and heart of a person (e.g faithfulness- hope it is faithfulness to the Institution and not to any individual however highly placed he may be in the hierarchy), integrity, devotion to duty even if in the popular perception (we have some times some evidence of this) we are not credited with those qualities! This continues to surprise me. 

- A.Chandramouliswaran

Police unfold mystery surrounding abandoned car near RBI Square in Nagpur

......After reaching Nagpur, the other car driver putting reasons that he may lose his job if the real owner of the car finds him with a passenger, left Vijay Gupta near RBI square. Vijay Gupta stationed his car near RBI Square and went home. The next day, a traffic policeman spotted the abandoned car with a cement paint box beneath the seat. The cement paint was in the form of powder. The Nagpur police were put on high alert after the serial bomb blasts in Bodh Gaya............

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Subbarao reaches Delhi to discuss sovereign bond issue

It was a call from economic affairs secretary Arvind Mayaram on Saturday to the 18th floor of Reserve Bank of India (RBI), which made governor Duvvuri Subbarao to cancel his entire public engagement programme in Mumbai and rush to Delhi to meet the finance minister and the prime minister on Monday............

Read | Business Standard

Wrong context

...... My remark that the Reserve Bank of India and government cannot fight the market published in your newspaper of July 11, 2013 was explicitly in the context of the stock market and the foreign exchange market. I fail to understand how..........

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Counterfeit currency flooding Mumbai leaves agencies worried

............While several agencies including the Mumbai police, National Investigation Agency (NIA), Anti-Terrorism Squad, Intelligence Bureau and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) have been working against counterfeit currency, the presence of masterminds operating within and outside India has made their task difficult............

Read - HT

Subbarao meets FM ahead of global tour

Amid talk of sovereign bond issues for foreign markets, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor D Subbarao met Finance Minister P Chidambaram and other senior ministry officials on Monday for over an hour and discussed various options to arrest sliding macroeconomic numbers and the rupee value against the dollar. The finance minister, in another meeting, briefed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh about the current macroeconomic situation and his recent visit to the United States. According to sources, Subbarao rushed to Delhi after he got a call from Economic Affairs Secretary Arvind Mayaram on Saturday. This resulted in the cancellation of the RBI governor’s public engagements in Mumbai..........

Read | Business Standard

As inflation rises, RBI may baulk at easing interest rates

.............The RBI took note of the higher inflation at the wholesale and consumer levels with the Governor, D. Subbarao, telling reporters in New Delhi after an hour-long meeting with Finance Minister, P. Chidambaram: “Of course, we will take into account inflation numbers while framing the policy.” There has been an increasing clamour from industry for a cut in rates to revive growth. Last week the government released industrial output data showing a fall of 1.6 per cent in May compared to a 1.9 per cent growth in April.............

Read - The Hindu

‘We must explore option of NRI bonds’

Chairman of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council Dr. C. Rangarajan tells M.K. Venu that India could explore an NRI bond issue of the kind done in 1998 after the Asian financial crisis, to meet the potential shortfall in capital flows in the short run. However, the high current account deficit will have to be addressed in the medium to long term. Excerpts:........

Read - The Hindu

RBI data shows how UPA killed the Rupee

If the 10 year RBI data on short term foreign debt is analyzed, it is fairly obvious that the UPA destroyed the value of the Rupee. In 2004 when the Vajpayee Government was voted out, the foreign debt at $ 112.4 billion was well covered by the forex reserves. Nine years later it has grown by 350 percent to $ 390 billion and the forex reserves cover falls 25 percent short................

Read - ET

Food prices bite, pain to worsen as weak Re stings

........Late on Monday, the Reserve Bank of India  moved in to check speculation in the currency market and fixed a daily limit on how much banks can borrow from the central bank - 1% of banks' deposit base or Rs. 75,000 crore, for the entire banking system. If a bank requires more funds, it can borrow emergency money using the marginal standing facility (MSF) at sharply costlier 10.25% from 8.25% earlier. Higher prices have hurt family budgets hard, especially at a time when firms, squeezed by costly input and borrowing costs, have offered meagre salary hikes and are holding back expansion and hiring..............

Read - HT

RBI hikes rates to rescue falling rupee

.......The RBI pushed up the rate at which it lends money to banks by 200 basis points to 10.25 per cent. The marginal standing facility, which is the rate at which banks borrow additional funds from the RBI, will now be at 10.25 per cent. To make these measures bite, the RBI also limited the sum banks can borrow at the softer rate of 7.25 per cent to Rs 75,000 crore per day with effect from Wednesday........

Read - IE

What should RBI do and why?

In exactly two weeks, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will have to take a decision on interest rates. Giving gratuitous advice on the morning of the meeting might be too late. Advice given a fortnight earlier might be somewhat useful. In any case, columnists earn their living by being presumptuous and through giving gratuitous advice. Until some time ago, all speculation on monetary policy was whether RBI would cut rates and if so, by how much. That ceased when the US dollar vaulted above 60 Indian rupees. Now, most people are reconciled to the view that RBI would stand pat on rates on 30 July...........

Read - Mint

RBI squeezes liquidity

.....The move also raises concerns over the continuation of the policy-easing path that had been adopted by the central bank, as it has now decided to cut the comfortable liquidity the market had been enjoying........

Read | Business Standard

RBI finally supports rupee

.......A senior banker termed the decision to increase the indicative bank rate as “sudden and unexpected” step. “An increase in lending rates depends on the liquidity in the market. As of now, there is enough liquidity. However, if these measures lead to a reduction in the liquidity, banks may increase the interest rates,” said a senior SBI official.............

Read - Deccan Chronicle

FM objects Muthoot Finance proposal to get foreign investors for white-label ATMs

.......Chidambaram’s stand on the issue is based on the supervisory concerns conveyed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), which the finance minister thinks are sufficiently grave to warrant rejection of the application of Muthoot Finance. The Kochi-based gold loan provider has also applied for banking licence. ...........

Read | Business Standard

WPI: A poor gauge of inflation

............For the entire period, the average revision was an upward adjustment of 0.38 per cent a month. Importantly, the revision takes place after two months, by which time RBI would have already acted upon the data. On numerous occasions, sub-seven per cent inflation rose to well above seven per cent after revision..............

Read | Business Standard

Dena Bank’s ‘smallB’ brings debt financing to the door of start-ups

..........“SmallB’s precondition is that it will offer loans only to those companies that have angel, angel network or VC funding. It works only with Sebi-registered Indian funds,” said a person close to the development, who did not want to be identified. Sebi is the Securities and Exchange Board of India, the capital market regulator. Loans from smallB have to be personally guaranteed by promoters. While it doesn’t have any non-performing assets (NPAs), it has drawn up procedures for contingencies such as the non-payment. This extends to liquidating the assets of the company................

Read - Mint

Bansal kin Sunil Gupta to become shareholder director of Canara Bank, again?

........Important question, however, is can a person become a director for 12 consecutive years by using loopholes in the rules and provisions. The provisions under which the government appoints its nominee directors and shareholders elect their representative directors are different. Both permit two consecutive terms of three years each as director. However, somebody with connections at the right places can remain director..............

Read - Moneylife

Himachal Pradesh to have 800 new rural bank branches by 2016

SHIMLA: Himachal Pradesh government proposes to open about 800 new bank branches in rural belts and remote corners of the State by 2016 under a comprehensive Financial Inclusion Plan. Addressing a meeting, State Chief Secretary Sudripta Roy also said banks will provide fresh loans amounting to Rs 11,548 crore during the current financial year in Himachal Pradesh........... 

Read - ET

YES Bank row: HC allows Madhu Kapur to amend plea

.....The court posted the matter for final hearing to July 29. On Madhu's request for a direction from the court to the bank to share the minutes of the June 8 annual general meeting as well as the video recordings, the High Court, without giving any direction on the plea, asked the petitioner to write to the bank today (Monday) itself and also asked the bank to reply by Tuesday. “You write a letter. If they refuse inspection and the court later during arguments finds that the refusal was wrong then we will pass adverse order,” judge S J Kathawala said........

Read | Business Standard